Many radar, electronic warfare and communication systems require a circularly polarized antenna with high gain and low axial ratio. Conventional mechanically scanned reflector antennas can meet these specifications. However, they are bulky, difficult to install, and subject to performance degradation in winds. Planar phased arrays may also be employed in these applications. However, these antennas are costly because of the large number of expensive GaAs Monolithic microwave integrated circuit components, including an amplifier and phase shifter at each array element as well as a feed manifold and complex packaging. Furthermore, attempts to feed each microstrip element from a common input/output port becomes impractical due to the high losses incurred in the long microstrip transmission lines, especially in large arrays.
Conventional microstrip reflect array antennas use an array of microstrip antennas as collecting and radiating elements. Conventional reflect array antennas use either delay lines of fixed lengths connected to each microstrip radiator to produced a fixed beam or use an electronic phase shifter connected to each microstrip radiator to produce an electronically scanning beam. These conventional reflect array antennas are not desirable because the fixed beam reflect arrays suffer from gain ripple over the reflect array operating bandwidth, and the electronically scanned reflect array suffer from high cost and high loss phase shifters.
It is also known that any desired phase variation across a circularly polarized array can be achieved by mechanically rotating the individual circularly polarized array elements. Miniature mechanical motors or rotators have been used to rotate each array element to the appropriate angular orientation. However, the use of such mechanical rotation devices and the controllers introduce mechanical reliability problems. Further, the manufacturing process of such antennas are labor intensive and costly.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,895 entitled "Electronically Scanned Microstrip Antenna Array" issued to Malagisi on Oct. 11, 1977, antennas having at least two pairs of diametrically opposed short circuit shunt switches placed at different angles around the periphery of a microstrip disk is described. The shunt switches connect the periphery of the microstrip disk to a ground reference plane. Phase shifting of the circularly polarized reflect array elements is achieved by varying the angular position of the short-circuit plane created by diametrically opposed pairs of diode shunt switches. This antenna is of limited utility because of the complicated labor intensive manufacturing process required to connect the shunt switches and their bias network between the microstrip disk and ground, as well as the cost of the circuitry required to control the diodes.